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Showing posts from April, 2017

(85): Islam, Culture, Social Media and the Rest of Us

Muhsin Ibrahim muhsin2008@gmail.com Facebook, or any other social media, is no longer what it used to be: a mere, innocuous social networking site for friending, chatting, sharing pictures and the like. It is, today, a life shaping platform. This and a whole host of other reasons, therefore, call for parents, guardians and all to be (more) wary of how, and of course who, his/her children, wards, younger siblings, etc interact with. I will give three (3) examples. First , the Intern et, in general, is a harbour for amassed pornographic contents. Recently, the Indian government banned viewing of porn contents in their country. But due to pressure and protests, they had to lift the ban. These days, there are many pages for that on Facebook, chat groups on WhatsApp, etc. The kids can be smart but not really smarter. Devise your ways to curtail this via best possible means. While the first danger could easily be detected, the second one is eerily, barely detectable. This is

(84): Emir Sanusi’s Diatribe and Question of Superior Opinion

Muhsin Ibrahim muhsin2008@gmail.com A famous line from Shakespeare’s celebrated Romeo and Juliet poses a question, thus: “What is in a name?” While Juliet believes that there’s nothing significant in a name, for Romeo will remain her heartthrob irrespective of his family’s name, affiliation matters in many other places such as Nigeria. The play, if adapted and set here, would (should) be different. There is so much meaning attached to names in the Nigerian socio-political context and discourse. Perhaps, that is why the former governor of the Nigerian apex bank, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi (SLS) quickly changed his name to Muhammadu Sanusi II when he ascended to power as the Emir of Kano in 2014. Other possible reasons could be his effort to start life afresh, free of politics, and to maintain the tradition, and to revive the genealogy of his grandfather who was also an emir. The then SLS was well-known to be a very vocal, daring and assertive, public intellectual. Lo, the same ol